We are delighted to announce the finalists in this year’s Care at Home and Housing Support Awards. Thank you to all who submitted nominations and congratulations to all who have been shortlisted!
Winners will be announced at a virtual Awards Ceremony, hosted by Michelle McManus and Dr Donald Macaskill on the evening of 9 October 2020.
For the attention of care homes for adults and older people:
A system is currently being developed to move care home staff testing in Scotland from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) portal to NHS Laboratory resources. In order to inform the process of development of and transitioning to the new system, care home providers and managers have been invited to provide feedback on their experience of using the current DHSC system and to suggest improvements that could be made and to identify best practice you may have in place.
If you wish to participate in this feedback please complete this questionnaire and e-mail it to [email protected] by 5pm 30 September 2020. Please use the subject line: “Care Homes Staff Testing Questionnaire”.
Scottish Care welcomes the Care Inspectorate’s enquiry report on care at home and housing support services during the COVID-19 pandemic, which highlights many of the issues that Scottish Care and its members have been raising over the last six months.
There is a real sense in which the care at home and housing support sector has been and continues to be the Achilles heel of our pandemic response, having been regularly overlooked or insufficiently planned for nationally and locally. The report demonstrates that effective solutions have been reliant on good partnership relationships with the care at home and housing support sector at local level, but unfortunately the degree to which this happens and the sector is treated as a true partner remains extremely variable and often woefully inadequate.
The report highlights the fragility of the care at home sector and its workforce in terms of contractual and commissioned arrangements. It shows that – not just as a result of the pandemic but in line with what Scottish Care has called for for some time – we need to change how care is commissioned in Scotland and this report comes at an important time in contributing to the recently announced Review of Social Care.
It also highlights the lack of real choice and direct engagement with people accessing support when decisions are being made which impact their care. The findings highlight that ‘social isolation, disruption to daily activities, limitations on physical activity and the suspension of reablement adversely impacted on the health and wellbeing of people who experience care and carers.’ Positive support for these aspects is the essence of what social care is and can do for people. The facilitation of positive wellbeing, preventative care approaches and support to maintain or regain independence cannot be achieved in 15 minute visits by a workforce paid by the minute through restrictive, task oriented local contracts.
There is clear evidence, highlighted in recent NRS data, of a disturbing increase in excess deaths in the community and more work is required to explore the relationship between the removal or reduction of homecare supports as a pandemic response and the impact and experiences of people supported in the community. To date, Scottish Care has seen no sign of the extent to which care packages are being reintroduced and if they are, what appreciation exists for the deterioration many people have inevitably experienced in the last six months. Assessments must happen and must reflect the changes that have occurred in people’s lives.
This is another example of an important report highlighting the fragmented and precarious social care system we have rather than the integrated and properly valued system that we need. Its recommendations should be treated with the urgency and priority they require.
The Care Inspectorate report is available here.
Following yesterday’s announcement from the First Minister of additional restrictions being introduced to address the upsurge in the number of Covid19 cases across Scotland it is important to underline the situation in regard to care home visiting.
All indoor and outdoor care home visiting is exempt from the new national restrictions and can continue as before. The only exception to this are care homes which are in those local areas already under additional restrictions and where indoor care home visiting has been suspended, such as in West of Scotland, Lanarkshire etc. In all other areas both outdoor and indoor visiting, subject to risk assessment and sign off by Public Health Scotland, are able to take place.
The critical role of visiting for the mental health and physical wellbeing of both resident and family member cannot be over-emphasised. We are grateful for the First Minister’s statement which affirms both the rights of family to be together in our care homes and for the measures being taken to make this process as practical and natural as possible.
As we move into the winter months in a year that has presented challenges beyond anything ever faced, we must refocus and ensure that we learn from what has happened. Challenges are also opportunities to do things differently and collaboratively and can result in positive change.
In this last month when we have been informed of an investigative review alongside the push for a national care service. There is undoubtedly real concerns on how this will impact the sector, especially when sustainability is already fragile for many providers. Some may dispute that the timing of this review is not best placed and will not serve to support the future stability of the social care sector. The real hope for such reviews is that they allow a collaborative approach which provides choice and control for the people of Scotland and to ensure the future of health and social care integration.
We understand the care sector is extremely complex and tightly regulated to ensure that care is delivered in a way that edifies the safety of all residents and that the care delivered within a framework through real professionalism by meeting all standards around personal outcomes. Ensuring personalisation is central to realistic care and is something the care home sector prides itself on, and rightly so.
For a mutual agreement to happen it is key to ensure mutual respect and understanding exists. Many of the frustrations the sector has felt have been as a result of not working in sync, making changes at one end with little regard on how this may impact across the care sector.
The mutual aid and care assurance provided by NHS boards and HSCP’s was initially viewed by some with skepticism, however in the main this has now been shown to be supportive in nature and also provides a recognition of the professional care being delivered across our care at home and care home services. Despite the inequalities that have existed in relation to accessing PPE, testing for staff and residents, alongside visiting restrictions there is a real desire to get problems resolved as quickly as possible to reduce the risks to residents and staff, especially round stress and distress.
It is completely understandable that we must be stringent and inspected to protect against the risks of spreading infections as we care for the most vulnerable groups and have come through the greatest loss of life. The care sector requires prompt and workable guidance, and this has not been the case over the last several months, often being left in a state of limbo, spinning plates until the next piece of guidance or legislation is advised, which often conflicted with the previous guidance.
So, it’s important to concentrate therefore on what we can control.
It is people that make things happen and therefore we must ensure that there is leadership that will be strong and appropriate to take our staff through and out the other side. Staff are without question our greatest asset and as such we must ensure we prepare them to work to the top of their roles and that they are fully supported to understand their responsibilities alongside promoting a creative environment to enhance change to best fit the needs of our older people, who make care homes their homes, either through need or choice.
One thing that has been paramount during these last few months is that our care homes are our residents’ homes, their homely settings, not a hospital ward and as a sector it is important that this continues to be raised in relation to impractical, unworkable guidance and to protect people’s human based rights.
This is reliant on our professional care home managers feeling empowered and ensuring the needs of residents and families remain the key priority. This requires resilience demonstrated through leadership and professional integrity.We fully understand that transformational leadership in care homes can improve staff job satisfaction and retention and enhance the delivery of effective care for residents but this needs to be future proofed including in the context of the new digital age in order to succeed. Leadership needs to be promoted at all staff levels as part of ensuring the development of healthy work cultures and behaviours. Throughout this pandemic the words all in it together have been mentioned often and are truly the way to promote true compassionate leadership.
As we understand and learn from the effects of unhealthy work environments and the detrimental impact these can ultimately have on care outcomes then we must focus on leadership that is compassionate, is empathetic and supportive. This style of leadership is what provides trust and safety for staff to develop and to feel motivated and valued and ultimately drives service improvements and best value.
The wellbeing of staff therefore needs to be at the fore-front and this is as important for managers just as it should for all other staff. Managers can often feel isolated and pressured to feel like they are coping when they may be struggling. The need for self -care therefore needs to be recognised as a key determinant to ensure stability during a time of uncertainty.
Leadership historically is viewed through a lens of a ranges of styles, which may be interchangeable to enhance and ensure safe practice, and should promote access to information resulting in a motivated high performing efficient and effective team.
Over the years we have seen a leaning towards a more empathic style of leadership (humanity based) which ensure the manager and the staff are integrated in the aims and ambitions of the team through a mutual trust and open culture. Gone are the days of traditional bureaucratic leadership of command and control within a hierarchical approach. As we develop a transformational approach to service redesign so does the leadership style transform. Therefore, based on this it seems natural that our leadership style requires to be mindful of the gains that leadership could have by the use of e-health, social media and digital progression.
There has been a real push for the development of digital platforms to ensure live information around care and the conversion from paper-based processes to digital. This has been escalated during the pandemic to ensure tighter safeguards. An example of such is the introduction of the daily digital safety huddle management tool, rolled out to care homes in line with the platforms used by NHS nursing staff. The purpose being to be able to deliver excellent care and take appropriate escalation procedures around staff and patient safety and monitoring. During the last few months we have witnessed visually and in practice the real benefits in the use of digital platform to access information and deliver services through virtual technology such as Near Me. Although for some scenarios the preference would still be to be a face to face conversation, it definitely allows for a speedier decision making process and ensures better time management.
So, to lead into the future it is important our staff embrace the technology and make it intrinsic to their working practice whether this is through teaching, providing clinical supervision or promoting e-care planning, or rostering to ensure a capable workforce. This will require financial support and time invested to rectify digital poverty across the sector to ensure national equitable approaches which do not put our residents at risk. It also requires enhanced knowledge and skills to be developed around data analysis and quality improvement processes. The sector has innovative staff but requires this collaborative consideration to achieve a meaningful vision for care home nursing.
When I took up the post of transforming workforce lead for nursing, I didn’t envisage how the term transforming would truly be brought to life, during this exceptional year of the nurse. What a year indeed. The speed and pace of work has been exceptional and has managed to move nursing to the forefront of the future integration plans, with the true value of nurses recognised through their resilience and compassionate care. On a personal level until last year I had never written a blog nor was I an active participant on social media however the professional benefits gained by keeping updated and reflective practice are priceless and I would recommend all nurses to let your voice be heard.
I truly believe all nurses are transformers and leaders, we all have a journey, some just starting off and others nearing the end of their professional careers with a legacy to leave and be taken forward. Lead by example, be true to yourself and your patients/residents and ensure you advocate to ensure care is never compromised and our communities have the opportunities to thrive and our vulnerable receive the best care possible through leading from the heart.
Jacqui Neil
Transforming Workforce Lead
@TransformNurse
Please see below for a letter from the CNO regarding an update to the interim guidance on the extended use of face masks.
The updated guidance can be found here.
COVID19 - HAI - Guidance - Updated extended use of face masks guidance - CNO Letter
The free Protect Scotland App from NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect is now available to download on protect.scot and via the App Store and Google Play.
The free Protect Scotland App is here to help keep Scotland safe from coronavirus. The app is the next step in stopping the spread of coronavirus and complements existing contact tracing measures, helping us to determine contacts that we may have otherwise missed, and allows us to alert people at risk far more quickly so they can steps to reduce the risk of infecting others.
How the App Works
This app uses tried and tested technology developed by Apple and Google and is already working successfully in other countries across Europe. It works in the background using minimal data and will automatically alert you if you have been in close contact with another app user who has tested positive. And if you test positive, the app can quickly alert those you have had close contact with. The app uses Bluetooth technology, so it never knows your identity or location.
Campaign Information
The Protect Scotland App launch will be supported by a 4 week campaign across TV, radio, press, social media, digital, PR and partnerships activity. The campaign will direct to the new protect.scot website, where you can learn more on how the app works, information on privacy and data and FAQs.
Ø View the Explainer Video Here
Campaign Assets
Available campaign resources will include: Posters, social media, editorial copy, app screen shots and explainer videos.
How to Help
Please post on social media, discuss within your organisation and share the campaign information across your networks. As we see the rate of infection increase it’s important that we all download and use the Protect Scotland app. The more of us using the app, the better it will work.
Stakeholder Toolkit
Scottish Care has recently held talks with the insurance sector as a result of concerns being raised by our members. These primarily relate to a reduction in the number of companies willing to provide public and employee liability insurance for the care home sector.
We appreciate that the insurance sector has been affected by Covid-19 and has suffered a negative financial impact, but we hope that this will not result in exorbitant price rises for the social care sector in Scotland.
We have become aware that there are a number of insurers who are not willing to take on new clients which is making it very challenging for our members to shop around and get the best deal for their organisations.
We continue to monitor the situation closely because we are very concerned that there are very real risks to the survival and sustainability of the care sector.
CEO Dr Donald Macaskill said:
“It is very important in these challenging and hard times during the pandemic that the insurance sector supports care homes as they have traditionally always done. Care providers need to provide assurance to both residents and staff that they are adequately protected by insurance and I hope that the insurance sector will work closely with ourselves and care homes to get the real picture of what life is like. Yes there have been really challenging times but our journey back to what is closer to normal will not be helped if the insurance sector pulls the rug from underneath the care sector.”
We are delighted to announce that tickets are now on sale for ‘Homecare Festival’, a virtual event taking place from Wednesday 7th to Friday 9th October.
Tickets are priced at £45 + VAT and will give attendees access to all 3 days of the event.
The Homecare Festival is an important opportunity to recognise the crucial role of care at home and housing support services in supporting our older and vulnerable citizens.
There will be a series of online sessions over this three-day period, bringing together a range of speakers and panellists to highlight challenges faced by the care at home & housing support sector and to discuss the future of homecare.
Each day will have a different theme:
Wednesday 7th October: Re-shaping homecare: issues of vision, sustainability and practice
Thursday 8th October: Maximising potential: the critical role of the homecare workforce
Friday 9th October: Home is where the rights are: homecare and human rights
A full programme for these three days can be found below.
The Homecare Festival will end with an Awards Evening on Friday 9th October to celebrate the dedicated workforce in the independent homecare sector and all the extraordinary work that they do. This will be a separate event, tickets will be available shortly. Find out more about the awards here.
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